Ruth 3:6 - Meaning and Application

Boaz showed good order in his everyday work. When his servants were winnowing grain, he stayed with them and kept an eye on the work. He was not only guarding against theft, which he had little reason to fear, but also against waste from carelessness. Masters can lose much through servants who are honest but careless, so people should watch the condition of their work and possessions closely.

When there was extra work to do, Boaz treated his servants with special kindness. He ate and drank with them to encourage them. This fits well with people who are rich or important, they should be generous and also approachable toward those who work under them. Boaz was a master, but he did not keep a proud distance.

After he had eaten and spent some pleasant time with the workers, Boaz went to bed at a proper hour. By midnight, he was in his first sleep (Ruth 3:8), which left him ready for work early the next morning. Good managers keep steady hours and do not spoil their households with late and noisy enjoyment. The old Chaldee paraphrase says that Boaz ate and drank, his heart was glad, and he blessed the Lord, who had heard his prayers and removed the famine from Israel. In other words, he went to bed sober, thankful, and in a calm frame of mind.

He also did not go to bed without prayer. After eating and being satisfied, he blessed the Lord, and before resting he placed himself under God’s protection. That was especially fitting, because he faced an unexpected temptation, though he did not know it yet. He had his bed or couch laid at the end of the heap of grain, not because he was greedy for it, but because it was too late to go into the city. He stayed near his work, ready for the next day, and showed that he was not fussy about comfort, but could sleep like Jacob, even in a barn if needed.

Ruth also acted with good sense and courage in managing her own part. She followed her mother’s instructions and lay down, not beside Boaz, but across the place at his feet, fully dressed, waiting for the right moment to speak. When he woke in the night and found someone there, she told him who she was and why she had come (Ruth 3:9). She came to place herself under his protection, as the family redeemer appointed by God’s law. She was saying, in effect, “You have the right to redeem a family and an estate from ruin, so take up this cause. Spread your skirt over me, and be willing to marry me and protect my rights.”

In this, Ruth gives us a picture of faith. We should come to Jesus Christ as the close relative who is able to redeem us, come under his wings as he invites us (Matthew 23:37), and ask him to spread his covering over us. In simple words, we ask the Lord Jesus to take us into his covenant, which is his binding promise of grace, and keep us under his care. “Lord Jesus, take me into your covenant and under your protection. I am oppressed, so take up my cause.”

Ruth found a warm and honorable welcome from Boaz. What she did had no bad result in either direction, and Naomi’s good opinion of him proved right. Boaz understood that Ruth’s request was just and decent, and he treated her accordingly. He did not look at her the way Shechem looked at Dinah, treating her with dishonor (Genesis 34:31). Instead, he guarded both her purity and his own honor.

He did not take advantage of the situation, though he had every opportunity. The old paraphrase says that he controlled his desires and did not go near her, like Joseph, who refused his Egyptian mistress, or like Paltiel, who later kept a sword between himself and Michal, David’s wife, so he would not touch her (1 Samuel 25:44). Boaz knew that Ruth had not come for sinful desire, so he firmly protected both her character and his own. He also did not make an ugly judgment about her. He did not accuse her of being bold or unfit to be an honest man’s wife.

Because her life in the fields had shown her to be modest and decent, he would not suspect her now. He may even have felt that he ought to have offered himself sooner as a kinsman, sparing her this trouble. Like Judah saying of Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “She is more righteous than I,” he was ready to speak humbly if needed.

Instead, Boaz praised her and spoke kindly to her. He called her his daughter and honored her as a woman of real virtue. She had already shown kindness by leaving her own country and coming with Naomi to Israel, living with her, and helping support her. For that, Boaz had already blessed her (Ruth 2:12). Now he said she had shown even greater kindness at the end than at the beginning (Ruth 3:10), because she had not followed her own wishes but had looked to her husband’s family in seeking marriage again.

She had not gone after young men, whether rich or poor, and had not chased her own preferences. Instead, she was willing to marry as God’s law directed, even though it meant marrying an older man, because she cared for the honor and good of the family she had joined. Young people should choose in a way that pleases God and honors their parents, not just their own eyes.

Boaz then promised marriage (Ruth 3:11). He told her not to fear that he would ignore her or put her to shame. He would do what she asked, because it matched the duty the law placed on the nearest relative, and he had no reason to refuse. Everyone in the city knew that Ruth was a virtuous woman (Ruth 3:11). Clear virtue should receive its proper praise (Philippians 4:8), and it wins the respect of the wisest and best people. Ruth was poor, and poverty can hide the beauty of virtue, but her goodness could still be seen. Her character even outweighed the shame of her poverty.

Her humility helped prepare the way for this honor. The less she talked about herself, the more others noticed her goodness. In choosing a spouse, virtue should matter most, and known, approved virtue especially. Let religion guide the choice, and it will also make that choice steady and joyful. Wisdom is better than gold, and when Scripture speaks of an inheritance being good, it means little without wisdom to go with it.

He made his promise conditional, and he could do nothing else, because there was a closer relative than he, and that man had the first right of redemption (verse 12). Boaz knew this, though Naomi, who had been away for so long and could not know every detail of her husband’s family line, likely did not. If she had known, she would not have sent Ruth to make her claim on Boaz.

Still, Boaz did not send Ruth to speak to this other relative herself. That would have been too hard for her. Instead, he promised two things: first, that he would speak to the other relative and find out what he wanted to do. In Hebrew, the word for widow carries the idea of someone who cannot speak up for herself. Boaz would speak for the silent one (Proverbs 31:8) and say for this widow what she could not say for herself.

Second, if the other relative refused to do his duty as family redeemer, Boaz would do it himself. He would marry the widow, redeem the land, and restore the family line. He confirmed this promise with a solemn oath, because this was a marriage agreement that depended on the other man’s answer (Ruth 3:13): “As the Lord lives.” Then he kept the matter in suspense and told her to wait until morning.

Bishop Hall sums it up well: “Boaz, instead of treating her like a loose woman, blessed her like a father, encouraged her like a friend, promised her like a relative, rewarded her like a protector, and sent her away full of hope and gifts, no less pure, and more happy, than when she came. What admirable self-control, worthy of the ancestor of him in whose lips and heart there was no deceit!”